The US American Civil War was the greatest war in American history. 3 million fought - 600,000 paid the ultimate price for freedom. And a war for freedom it was. The desire for freedom traveled deeper than the color of skin and farther than the borders of any state.

There are hundreds of thousands of pages of information available through this site. Peruse the Official Record of the war, check out the Battle Map, or view the largest collection of Civil War photos available online.

"War is sorrowful, but there is one thing infinitely more horrible than the worst horrors of war, and that is the feeling that nothing is worth fighting for..."

-- Harper's Weekly, December 31, 1864

"The troops... were chiefly volunteers, who went to the field to uphold the system of free government established by their fathers and which they mean to bequeath to their children."--Official Record (Union Letters, Orders, Reports)

"...I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right; but it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation may be on the Lord's side."

The first general order issued by the Father of his Country after the Declaration of Independence indicates the spirit in which our institutions were founded and should ever be defended: "The general hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country."

"We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for Independence, and that, or extermination"-- Jefferson Davis

""If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms."-- Samuel Adams

"What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" -- Patrick Henry